Houston Symphony Will Rock You with “The Music of Queen”

In Friday’s (7/7) Houston Chronicle (subscription required), Chris Gray writes, “This weekend, the Houston Symphony kicks off its Hobby Center summer residency with ‘The Music of Queen,’ two nights of the orchestra and conductor Brent Havens going to town on what is arguably classic rock’s best-suited catalog for the symphonic treatment. According to the website of Havens’ company, Windborne Music, which organizes classical-music tributes to rock performers, Queen is the hottest in Windborne’s clutch of orchestral tributes …’ With the possible exception of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin (also popular Windborne productions), Queen’s music has aged better than nearly all of its peers…. Queen’s music often sounds designed as much for the concert hall as the arena-rock stage. [Singer Freddie] Mercury spent years on childhood piano lessons, which later paid handsome dividends … He and his bandmates’ performances can run so epic that ‘Wagnerian’ and ‘Verdi-esque’ are among the few words that accurately capture their true grandeur. Indeed, Queen’s history was rife with symphonic moments … and their classical bona fides stretch far beyond ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ ” The article lists Queen songs and their classical-music references.